Korean

Korean literature

Korean literature, the body of works written by Koreans, at first in Classical Chinese, later in various transcription systems using Chinese characters, and finally in Hangul (Korean: han’gŭl; Hankul in the Yale romanization), the national alphabet.

Although Korea has had its own language for several thousand years, it has had a writing system only since the mid-15th century, when Hangul was invented. As a result, early literary activity was in Chinese characters. Korean scholars were writing poetry in the traditional manner of Classical Chinese at least by the 4th century ce.